MSGID: 1:153/757.0 c1684f27   
   TZUTC: -0800   
   CHRS: LATIN-1 2   
                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                 2024 February 28   
        A rocky shoreline is shown with land on the right and water on the   
          left. Above is a sky that shows unusually pixelated and colored   
           vertical bands. Please see the explanation for more detailed   
                                   information.   
      
                                  Shades of Night   
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Dario Giannobile   
      
      Explanation: How does the sky turn dark at night? In stages, and with   
      different characteristic colors rising from the horizon. The featured   
      image shows, left to right, increasingly late twilight times after   
      sunset in 20 different vertical bands. The picture was taken last month   
      in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, in the direction opposite the Sun. On the   
      far left is the pre-sunset upper sky. Toward the right, prominent bands   
      include the Belt of Venus, the Blue Band, the Horizon Band, and the Red   
      Band. As the dark shadow of the Earth rises, the colors in these bands   
      are caused by direct sunlight reflecting from air and aerosols in the   
      Earth's atmosphere, multiple reflections sometimes involving a reddened   
      sunset, and refraction. In practice, these bands can be diffuse and   
      hard to discern, and their colors can depend on colors near the setting   
      Sun. Finally, the Sun completely sets and the sky becomes dark. Don't   
      despair -- the whole thing will happen in reverse when the Sun rises   
      again in the morning.   
      
                        Tomorrow's picture: extra February   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn; Specific rights apply.   
                   NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices   
                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6   
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